Ink fountain



y 5, 196! D. T. SHANK 3,131,632

INK FOUNTAIN Filed on. 15, 1962 'ATTORNEZY United States Patent3,131,632 INK FOUNTAIN Dari T. Shank, Bellhrook, Ohio, assignor toHarris-Intertype Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of DelawareFiled Oct. 15, 1962, Ser. No. 230,387 Claims. (Cl. 101-364) Thisinvention relates to printing press ink fountains, and in particular, toan adjustable ink seal for an ink fountain.

In that type of ink fountain in which a flexible blade has an edge formetering the quantity of liquid placed on the surface or periphery of afountain roller, an ink sealing problem exists at the fountain ends. Theblade is normally inclined upwardly from the roller so as to form atrough or reservoir with the roller. At the ends of both the blade androller, side walls are ordinarily used for journaling and sealing thetrough at the ends. In order to achieve proper operation of an inkfountain of this type, it is necessary that the roller be rotated, as bya pawl and ratchet or other equivalent means, and the freedom ofoperation of the roller must be such that the driving mechanism is notunduly overloaded. Since the rotating roller ordinarily runs in journalsin the side walls, it is obvious that the relatively moving partspresent an ink sealing problem where they engage. Whenever wear betweenthe roller and journals or bearing surfaces occurs, it frequentlyhappens that ink in the trough flows into the journals. It is generallyimpossible to clean such ink without entirely dismantling the roller andfountain, except in certain fountain designs in which the roller is notactually journalled in the side walls. In these lat ter designs, theside walls form nothing more than an ink seal. In the fountains of thetype disclosed, however, once ink gets into the journal, it can drythere and freeze or lock the roller in its bearings.

According to the present invention, I provide an ink seal which permitsfree rotation of an ink fountain roller against a blade, such seal beingadjustable so that wear at the sealing point between the several partscan be compensated for by an adjustment to maintain the seal, withoutadversely affecting the rotatability of the fountain roll.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel sealfor the ends of an ink fountain having a rotatable roller and inkfountain blade, in which the seal may be mechanically adjusted tocompensate for wear of the parts, thus maintaining the seal.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription, in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an ink fountain embodying the presentinvention, with certain parts broken away for clarity.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view taken substantially along lines 2-2 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view taken substantially along lines3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring first to FIG. 2, it will be seen that an ink fountain rollerhas riding thereagainst an edge of a fountain blade 11. The blade isfastened to an ink foun tain body 12 by means of screws 13 at a portionthereof remote from the fountain roll 11). The side of the bladeadjacent the fountain roll 10 is free to be flexed by a plurality ofscrews 14 (only one of which is shown), in conventional fashion. Ink 15is contained in the trough formed by the fountain roller 10 and theblade 11.

In order to contain the ink 15 in the fountain at the ends, side walls1211 are provided on the fountain body 12, and in the preferred formshown are cast integrally 3,131,632 Patented May 5, 1964 with the body.The body has laterally extending portions 12b which may be bolted toside frames 16 of a printing press.

The fountain roller is preferably intermittently rotated in thedirection of the arrow in FIG. 2 by any conventional method (not shown),in journal blocks 17 mounted in the side walls 12a of the fountain body12. It will be noted at the left end of FIG. 1 and in FIG. 3 that thejournal blocks are adapted to be forced laterally inwardly by setscrews18, a pair of which cooperate with each journal block 17. The setscrewsact as jackscrews and are threaded into half-threads in the side walls12a and engage the bottoms of blind holes 19 in the journal blocks 17.Each end of fountain roller 10 is provided with a square shoulder 20 asshown in FIG. 3. This square shoulder 20 on the fountain roller mateswith a similar shoulder on the inwardly facing side of its correspondingjournal block 17 so as to form an ink seal between the fountain roller10 and the journal block 17 at each end thereof. It will be apparentthat in the event of wear through use of the ink fountain, the screws 18may be operated to urge one or both of the journal blocks 17 inwardlyinto more closely fitting relationship with the square shoulder 20 ofthe fountain roller, thus maintaining the ink seal.

In order to lubricate the contacting or bearing surfaces of the inkfountain roller and journal blocks 17, a grease fitting 2.1 is providedto communicate with a passage 22 drilled radially through each journalblock 17. The facing portions of the square shoulders 20 and the journalblocks 17 are provided with annular grooves 23 which form a pocket forreception of a heavy grease. Passages 24 connect the passages 22 withthe grooves 23 in order that fresh grease may be supplied to the groovesas needed. An exit passage 25 is provided for the old grease to bereplaced by new.

From the description and drawings, it will be noted that the journalblocks 17 in the preferred form of the invention are fixed againstrotation in the side walls 12a of the fountain body 12. The journalblocks journal the shaft portions 26 of the roller 10 so that the rollermay be rotated as mentioned earlier. It will also be noted that thejournal blocks 17 are cylindrical and of the same diameter as the roller10. The purpose of this is that inward or outward adjustment of eitherof the journal blocks 17 will maintain the seal along the fountain bladeedge. For example, let us assume that one of the blocks 17 is adjusted Ainwardly of the face of its side Wall 12a. By being the same diameter asthe fountain roller 10, the jouinal block 17 will maintain a seal whichis long with the edge of the fountain blade. This would appear to lessenthe effective length of the fountain roller by that amount, but thisordinarily is an unusable portion of the roller anyway, for purposes oftransferring ink. The fountain roller ink-carrying surface is generallyat least /2" longer than the ductor roller to which it transfers ink.

While I prefer that the journal blocks 17 be cylindrical and of the samediameter as the fountain roller 10, this is not absolutely essential.For example, the block may be any shape so long as the portion engagingthe edge of the fountain blade, when adjusted inwardly of the face ofthe adjacent side wall 12a, maintains the same ink sealing relationshipwith the fountain blade as that previously provided by the fountain roll10 against the ink fountain blade 11, and further provided that theremainder of the block stay in sealing engagement with its side wall atleast where ink comes in contact with the wall.

It should be further understood that but one journal block may bedesired, in which case one end of the roll may be conventional andconventionally journaled.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction of theseveral parts without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a printing press ink fountain,

a cylindrical fountain roller having an ink carrying surface of uniformdiameter throughout its length,

a fountain body having a pair of spaced side walls for rotatablysupporting said roller therebetween, said side walls having parallelinner faces lying in planes perpendicular to the roller axis,

a flexible ink metering blade carried by said fountain body and having aside edge thereof adapted to meter ink between the fountain roller andsaid blade edge, said blade being of a length equal to the distancebetween the inner faces of said side walls and said roller beingsubstantially the length of said blade, said blade, roller, and sidewalls together forming a trough in which ink is retained in saidfountain,

a shaft extending axially outwardly from at least one end of said rollerand being of smaller diameter than the roller diameter,

a journal block mounted in one of said side walls for journaling saidshaft, said block having a face directed toward said roller and adaptedto closely fit the end of said roller at the juncture of said shaft androller to provide an ink seal between the face of said block and saidroller, said side wall mounting said journal block being constructed toenable adjustment of said block inwardly of the inner face of said sidewall and said journal block being constructed to have a portion thereofadjacent the blade coincident with the periphery of the roller,

and means for adjusting said block axially along said shaft andlaterally inwardly with respect to the side wall mounting said block.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said journal block iscylindrical and of the same diameter as the fountain roller.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said adjusting meanscomprises a pair of jackscrews threaded into the side wall and urgingand maintaining the face of the journal block in ink sealingrelationship with the end of said roller.

4. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein a journal block andadjusting means is provided in each side wall and a shaft is provided ateach end of the roller.

5. The invention set forth in claim 4 wherein the fountain body and sidewalls are integral.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS509,569 Eisenhardt Nov. 28, 1893 1,231,661 Stevens July 3, 19171,933,887 Wood Nov. 7, 1933 2,328,990 Meyer Sept. 7, 1943 2,362,667Schmidt Nov. 14, 1944 2,649,337 Ware Aug. 18, 1953 2,732,267 Stover Jan.24, 1956

1. IN A PRINTING PRESS INK FOUNTAIN. A CYLINDRICAL FOUNTAIN ROLLERHAVING AN INK CARRYING SURFACE OF UNIFORM DIAMETER THROUGHOUT ITSLENGTH, A FOUNTAIN BODY HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED SIDE WALLS FOR ROTATABLYSUPPORTING SAID ROLLER THEREBETWEEN, SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING PARALLELINNER FACES LYING IN PLANES PERPENDICULAR TO THE ROLLER AXIS, A FLEXIBLEINK METERING BLADE CARRIED BY SAID FOUNTAIN BODY AND HAVING A SIDE EDGETHEREOF ADAPTED TO METER INK BETWEEN THE FOUNTAIN ROLLER AND SAID BLADEEDGE, SAID BLADE BEING OF A LENGTH EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THEINNER FACES OF SAID SIDE WALLS AND SAID ROLLER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY THELENGTH OF SAID BLADE, SAID BLADE, ROLLER, AND SIDE WALLS TOGETHERFORMING A TROUGH IN WHICH INK IS RETAINED IN SAID FOUNTAIN, A SHAFTEXTENDING AXIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM AT LEAST ONE END OF SAID ROLLER ANDBEING OF SMALLER DIAMETER THAN THE ROLLER DIAMETER, A JOURNAL BLOCKMOUNTED IN ONE OF SAID SIDE WALLS FOR JOURNALING SAID SHAFT, SAID BLOCKHAVING A FACE DIRECTED TOWARD SAID ROLLER AND ADAPTED TO CLOSELY FIT THEEND OF SAID ROLLER AT THE JUNCTURE OF SAID SHAFT AND ROLLER TO PROVIDEAN INK SEAL BETWEEN THE FACE OF SAID BLOCK AND SAID ROLLER, SAID SIDEWALL MOUNTING SAID JOURNAL BLOCK BEING CONSTRUCTED TO ENABLE ADJUSTMENTOF SAID BLOCK INWARDLY OF THE INNER FACE OF SAID SIDE WALL AND SAIDJOURNAL BLOCK BEING CONSTRUCTED TO HAVE A PORTION THEREOF ADJACENT THEBLADE COINCIDENT WITH THE PERIPHERY OF THE ROLLER, AND MEANS FORADJUSTING SAID BLOCK AXIALLY ALONG SAID SHAFT AND LATERALLY INWARDLYWITH RESPECT TO THE SIDE WALL MOUNTING SAID BLOCK.